Leon Sadiki

Stories by: Leon Sadiki

Mokete Bokako has a speech defect that was allegedly caused by complications from silicosis, an occupational lung disease that affects mineworkers. He worked on South Africa’s gold mines for many years before he was retrenched. He now lives alone and in poverty in Roma, Lesotho. (Photographs by Leon Sadiki)

Features

‘Those ones who owned the mines, I hate them’

After a lifetime of working on the mines, Zwelendaba Mgidi dreamed of returning home in his own car. Instead, he was diagnosed with silicosis, a progressive, often fatal, lung disease.

By: Lucas Ledwaba
2 Aug 2019